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Cohen Asks Photographer To Leave His Home, Then Pushes Him Out

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  • Cohen Asks Photographer To Leave His Home, Then Pushes Him Out

    COHEN ASKS PHOTOGRAPHER TO LEAVE HIS HOME, THEN PUSHES HIM OUT
    By Zack McMillin

    Memphis Commercial Appeal
    August 6, 2008

    Memphis Police were called to the home of Congressman Steve Cohen today
    after an an argument between Cohen and a Armenian-American cameraman
    in town from California ended with Cohen physically pushing him out
    the side door.

    Peter Musurlian of Globalist Films in Glendale, Calif., followed
    a reporter from The Commercial Appeal into Cohen's Overton Park
    home, where the Congressman had invited local media to respond to a
    commercial from Nikki Tinker, his 9th Congressional District opponent
    in Thursday's Democratic Primary, that Cohen called "more mudslinging."

    When members of Cohen's staff realized who the cameraman was - he
    had followed Cohen around on Tuesday night at National Night Out
    neighborhood events - they told him he was not invited and asked him
    to leave.

    Musurlian refused, saying he deserved a place in the open press
    conference, and continued arguing before Cohen got off his couch and
    angrily told Musurlian to leave, accusing him of trespassing.

    Then Cohen said, "You come outside, I'm going to talk to you.

    I'll give you an interview." When Musurlian retreated to the threshold,
    Cohen put both hands on his arms, forced him from the house and shut
    the door.

    Cohen's staff retrieved a tripod and a bag containing audio equipment
    and returned it to Musurlian, who later said an expensive part had
    been broken. Musurlian stood across the street from the house and
    eventually gave statements to the media and to police.

    Cohen also talked to police and said he had no intention of pressing
    charges. Musurlian said he intended to press charges because of the
    damage to his equipment.

    Armenian-Americans from around the country have been enraged at
    Cohen for his part in stopping Congress from passing a resolution
    last year that would have condemned Turkey for committing genocide
    against Armenians when the Ottoman Empire was disintegrating during
    and after World War I.

    Armenian-Americans have donated between $25,000 and $30,000 to Tinker's
    campaign and are actively working to defeat Cohen.

    Cohen has often spoken of his pride in stopping the resolution,
    saying that during his Congressional trip to the Middle East that
    he specifically asked Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces
    in Iraq, about the ramifications of passing a resolution that Turkey
    vowed would cause it to cut off all aid to the U.S. effort in Iraq.

    "I'm proud of what I did," Cohen said. "Gen. Petraeus, when I went to
    Baghdad, I asked him what his position was on the Armenian resolution
    and he said, 'I am glad you brought that up. That would be v ery
    devastating to our troops.' The Turks are our friends in NATO, they
    allow 8,000 trucks a day through Turkey into Iraq to serve our troops
    with supplies and needs. Those trucks could be stopped and the Turks
    are very serious about that. They allow us to use our airbase.

    "'He said, 'That would be really devastating to our mission.' While
    I am against the mission of the Iraq war, I am for protecting our
    troops. And to pass that resolution would have been irresponsible
    and the Congress saw that. President Carter and President Clinton
    both opposed it because they said we shouldn't be doing that to upset
    the Turks.

    "Determining what happened in history when it is a foreign nation
    and something we had nothing to do with is not the job of the United
    States Congress. It's a job for historians. The bottom line is at
    this time in 2007 and 2008 and possibly in 2009 it is the last thing
    to throw in the face of one of our few allies in the Middle East."

    Musurlian attempted to give Memphis media a history lesson about what
    many historians have declared a genocide but which Turkey maintains
    was a much more complicated set of events unleashed by the world war
    and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

    "This is a particular issue that I know maybe 50 people in Memphis
    are interested in but they should be interested in it," Musurlian
    said.20"It may sound ancient, but it's not as ancient as slavery."

    That seemed to be an allusion to the resolution Cohen did usher
    through Congress last week, with the U.S. House of Representatives
    for the first time apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and
    Jim Crow oppression and degradation.

    Cohen had called the press conference to explain his vote in 1997,
    while in the State Senate, against a bill called the "Tennessee
    Student Religious Liberty Act" that a Tinker ad said shows that Cohen
    "is the only Congressman that doesn't think our kids should be allowed
    to pray in schools."

    Cohen said today he unequivocally does not oppose prayer in schools,
    but that he opposed that bill because it was meaningless pandering.

    "They gave that bill a nice title to make it sound good, but I am just
    repulsed by people who will use religion to foster their political
    reputations and careers," Cohen said. "I voted it because it was a)
    unnecessary, b) trying to use religion on a false manner deluding
    the people to make them think they were doing something when they
    were not doing anything."

    And Cohen sounded a theme heard often over the years in Memphis,
    accusing "outsiders" of meddling

    "He needs to go back to California, EMILY's List needs to go back to
    Washington and New York, and the people who are doing th ese ads from
    Washington, they need to go home too," Cohen said.

    "Memphians will determine this election. And all these outsiders who
    don't know Steve Cohen, they need to get out of here."
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